44 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Schlechtendal published! in 1856 a very elaborate analysis of “‘H. horrida,” as 
understood by various writers and as evidenced by living specimens and the rela- 
tively small amount of herbarium material available. His conclusion was to recog- 
nize tentatively five specific forms as follows: 
“1. Hemitelia horrida R. Br.=Polypodium horridum Lin. Plum. Fil. p. 9. t. 8. 
Plum. Amer. p. 3. t. 4. 
2. Hemitelia commutata=Cyathea commutata Spreng. Einleit. in d. Stud. d., 
krypt. Gew. 8. 147. fig. 32. a. b. 
. Hemitelia hookeriana=H. horrida Wook. Spec. Filic. 1. p. 30. t. XV. excel. 
synon. 
4. Hemitelia Imrayana Hook. Tc. pl. t. 669. Sp. Filic. 1. p. 33. 
0. Hemitelia acuminata Karsten in litt.=H. horrida hortorum et nonnull. auct.’’ 
He suggested, however, that a better knowledge of these in the future might result 
in their recognition merely as forms of a single highly variable species. As to the 
status of these it may now be said that: (1) Plumier’s plate 8 (the type of Polypo- 
dium horridum 1.) shows crudely but unmistakeably the typical form of the West 
Indian plant known commonly as /emitelia horrida; (2) H. commutata (Spreng. ) 
Schlecht., leaving out all reference to Plumier’s plate 14 and judging the species by 
Schlechtendal’s own figure, is assuredly H. horrida; (3) H. hookeriana Schlecht. is 
only an extreme development of the ordinary West Indian J. horrida, matching 
perfectly certain material from Jamaica which apparently owes its form to unusually 
favorable conditions of growth; (4) I. imrayana Hook. is identical with H. insignis 
Fée, a Lesser Antilles species? which (see page 42) must be known under the still 
earlier name H. grandifolia (Willd.) Spreng.; and (5) HW. acuminata Schlecht. must 
be regarded as doubtfully a synonym of H. horrida. The original specimens of H, 
acuminata (a name first applied by Klotzsch) are said to have been collected near 
Galipan, Colombia, by Moritz (no. 290) and were listed? as Jf. horrida. These and 
Valentini’s Costa Rican specimens, mentioned by Schlechtendal,* have not been 
seen; but that 1. horrida really occurs in Costa Rica is evident to the writer from 
an examination of the two Costa Rican collections listed below, There is no reason 
to suppose that the species may not extend also to Colombia. The presence of scales, 
mentioned by Schlechtendal, suggests some doubt as to the reference of /7. acumi- 
nata to H. horrida, however; for in undoubted H. horrida the presence of any scales 
whatever, even in the most immature fronds, is exceedingly rare. Except for their 
very delicate, thin, and readily abraded whitish-tomentulose covering, the vascular 
parts of the pinnge are normally glabrous. Indeed, even the thin arachnoid covering 
is sometimes wholly wanting. 
rée’s Hemistegia repanda, as redescribed some fourteen years after its original 
publication, is without much doubt also referable to H. horrida. 
The following specimens are in the U. 8. National Herbarium: 
Santo Dominco: Near Barahona, altitude 600 meters, von Tiirckheim 2707. 
Loma Isabel de Torre, altitude 600 meters, Hggers 2738. Without definite 
locality, Jaeger 203. . 
Jamaica: Road to Mooretown, above Port Antonio, Underwood 3479. Near 
Castleton, Underwood 86. Near Port Antonio, Fredholm 3340. John Crow 
Mountains, Britton 3986; Iarris & Britton 10697, 10709. Cuna Cuna Gap, 
altitude 750 meters, Clute 266. Second Breakfast Spring, near Tweedside, 
altitude 600 meters, Maxon 869. Wet rocky banks of stream and ravines in 
ioe) 
' Bot. Zeit. 14: 449-454; 465-475. 1856. 
* Schlechtendal, in error, gives H. imrayana as from Santo Domingo, instead of 
from Dominica. 
3 Linnaea 20: 440. 1847. 
* Bot. Zeit. 14: 465. 1856. 
